OTTAWA, ON – The Canadian Lacrosse Association’s Indigenous Development Committee (IDC) is proud to launch the Honour Our Game campaign, which will see the helmets of athletes and officials from across the country adorned with an Honour Our Game sticker beginning with the 2018 season.

The promotional campaign, which was made possible thanks to the generous financial support of the Canadian Lacrosse Foundation, will look to help positively promote the sport of lacrosse’s values and acknowledge its Indigenous roots and history.

“As the Chair of the Indigenous Development Committee, I wanted to help create a positive promotional campaign for the sport of lacrosse nationwide,” said Rusty Doxtdator. “It was through a committee brainstorming session that we came up with the Honour Our Game slogan, and the logo, which encompasses four important elements, was develop from there.”

The Honour Our Game image has four crucial components:

The first component is the slogan “Honour Our Game”, which promotes respect, reverence, and veneration to the game of lacrosse.

The second component is the Canadian Lacrosse Association logo, which honours modern-day lacrosse and the CLA’s continued governance across Canada.

The third component are the eagle feathers, which acknowledges lacrosse’s Indigenous roots. Moreover, the feathers signify strength, power, and respect, all of which are crucial elements to the game of lacrosse.

The fourth component is the double-ringed circle, which elicits the principles of community, fraternity, and equality, as well the conglomeration of past, present, and future by encapsulating lacrosse’s Indigenous roots, along with the CLA and the IDC’s vision of the future of our sport.

Member Associations will distribute these stickers to their clubs and teams in the coming weeks. A letter detailing the campaign and the elements of the logo will be included in each package so that coaches can explain the meaning of the sticker, and the importance of recognizing the Indigenous roots of the game, to their players.

“My involvement with the Indigenous Development Committee has helped me understand that while lacrosse was part of my DNA growing up in Six Nations, there are Indigenous communities throughout our great country where the sport is not revered in the same manner,” added Doxtdator. “Our hope is that by getting participants of all ages involved with this campaign – from the peanut division kids to the Senior A guys – we can help shed a light on the important role that Indigenous people have played in our sport.”

For more information on the Honour Our Game campaign, visit www.lacrosse.ca. We also invite everyone to share photos of their stickers, or of other ways they honour the game of lacrosse, by tagging @LacrosseCanada on Twitter and using the hashtag #HonourOurGame.